5.0 Marketing
Marketing
When planning which crops to grow, consider your market and how you are going to sell them. If you are growing a large quantity of a few types of crops, selling to grocery stores might be a good strategy, though they will be interested in wholesale prices. If you are selling through a CSA or the farmers’ market, you can sell whatever you have ready that week, and have more flexibility, though it is more work to sell.
Communication Channels
Part of your marketing strategy will be how you communicate with your customers. People love seeing photos and videos of your farm and want to follow along on your adventure. Having an up-to-date website, and social media channels (Facebook and Instagram, perhaps Twitter and TikTok) will help build your customer base and let customers know what they will be able to purchase even before they get to the market or farm stand.
- Videos on social media to see plants growing
- High quality photos of produce
- Suggesting foods to make with your crops helps!
At the end of the day, being a farmer and selling your produce is all about building relationships with your customers; you can do that by greeting shoppers at the market, saving the chef’s favorite squash for them, or having some produce to give away as samples. It is a lot of work to grow vegetables and raise animals, but the other side of that is ensuring you have customers for them!
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Further Reading
- Young Agrarians blog on marketing
- CFDC of CIFN business resources
- The Market Gardener by Jean Martin Fortier